SPARTA -- For the second straight season, a double-digit seed from Bergen County made the trip north and sapped the energy out of the Sparta boys basketball team's gym in the biggest game of the season.

This time, it was No. 13 seed Northern Highlands, riding an emotional win over fourth-seeded Wayne Valley in the opening round of the North 1, Group 3 tournament, that charged in undeterred and made the result seem like anything but an upset.

The Spartans conceded an early double-digit lead after eight minutes and were never able to conjure up an answer over the next three quarters as the Highlanders powered their way to a 59-42 victory in the North 1, Group 3 tournament quarterfinals on Wednesday night at Sparta High School.

A season ago, it was No. 15 seed Bergenfield. Wednesday, it was the hot-shooting and 13th-seeded Highlanders that dealt the knockout blow.

"You come in and seeds don't matter," Brennan said. "We obviously see that. The state tournament really is about emotion, and tonight, we didn't have the emotion we needed. They came out hitting shots and we came out missing shots. I think we lost any momentum we had from the other night. We came out and played really uninspired and unenthusiastic basketball, and it showed."

After junior guard Aidan Mastandrea hit a 3-pointer midway through the opening quarter to give the Spartans a 3-2 lead -- their only advantage of the game -- they struggled to find the basket for the rest of the quarter while the Highlanders began to find their rhythm.

The Highlanders closed the quarter on a 13-2 run, including seven points from point guard Kevin Griffith, to jump ahead 15-5 after one.

After the Spartans shot 2-of-13 from the field in the opening quarter, including 1-for-4 from beyond the arc, Brennan pleaded with his team inside the huddle to attack the rim.

But the offensive woes continued for Sparta, while Northern Highlands shooting guard Ryan Starr lived up to his name as he played a starring role in helping the road side grow their lead to 31-17.

Starr connected on every one of his shots from the field in the frame, including three 3-pointers and an easy layup off an inbounds pass, to finish with 12 of his game-high 23 points in the second.

"Good players hit shots when it matters," Brennan said. "We've had guys hit shots all year too in some games, but today, their better players played better than our better players. It wasn't just shots, it was unable to keep them in front of us, slow in our help-side defense. Tonight, we got hit in the mouth and kind of backed down."

The Highlanders, who compete night in night out against the likes of Ramapo -- the top seed in the section -- and Hackensack -- the No. 2 seed in North 1, Group 4 -- inside the Big North Conference's Freedom Division, seemed poised for the moment, while Sparta simply fell flat.

It was a night to forget offensively for the Spartans, with leading scorer Jack Cavanaugh limited to nine points and backcourt mate Dante Joefield going scoreless.

The Spartans defense did its part in the third, limiting Northern Highlands to seven points in the quarter, but despite making countless stops, the Spartans could not use it to their advantage.

Early in the frame, Sparta came away with steals on three of four possessions, but came up empty.

The Spartans missed a layup, had two looks on another possession clank off the rim and threw away another pass before a timeout midway through the period.

When Cavanaugh found space in the lane for a dunk and Alex Podolski followed it up with a layup to cut Sparta's lead to 36-25, in turn energizing the Spartan faithful with about two minutes left in the third, Starr came back down on the other end and finished a reverse from inches off the baseline to give the Highlanders a 38-25 advantage heading into the final quarter.

"Their game plan worked pretty well because we didn't execute," Brennan said. "I think we had a lot of good looks tonight that we've made in other games and for some reason tonight, whether it be the moment or our preparedness, we just couldn't make it happen. Simple things, like passing the ball into the post tonight.

"We looked ill-prepared. That falls on us as a staff, but again, I would have like to see a little more emotion out there."

That would be as close as the Spartans would be for the rest of the game as Highlanders center Neal Quinn took over down the stretch with 12 of his 15 points in the final period as Northern Highlands closed out its second straight road playoff win with authority, leading by as many as 25 points down the stretch in the fourth quarter.

Despite a disappointing loss to close the season, Sparta finished the year with a 16-9 record -- one win better than a season ago.

And while Brennan hopes that his young team can look back on Wednesday's loss to propel the program forward again next season, he was appreciative of the hard work of the team's seniors -- Tom Ferrara, Jake Vreeland, Zach Ammirati and Cole Miller -- who helped the team improve overall.

"Outside of Tom Ferrara, Cole, Jake and Zach played jayvee basketball up until this year," Brennan said. "I thought all three of them, with Tom, adjusted well to the varsity game. We won 16 games with the conference we play and the schedule we play, is really something to be excited about with the senior class.

"The last three years, we've gotten better every single year with them in the program. We won 15 last year, 13 the year before, so these guys can go away knowing they left this program in better shape than it was when they came in as sophomores."